As the discussions on the role of regions in the future CAP enter the trilogue phase, the European Committee of the Regions ask the Council and the Commission to fall in line with the European Parliament's position on CAP governance
The CAP Strategic Plan regulation will define governance of the future CAP
within the framework of the New Delivery Model. The European Committee of
the Regions has repeatedly voiced its concerns regarding
the lack of a common vision on the role of regional authorities in the
governance of the future CAP. In the letters, co-signed by
Apostolos Tzitzikostas
, President of the CoR, and
Ulrika Landergren
(SE/RE), Chair of the CoR's Commission for Natural Resources, the CoR calls
for European regions to play a key role in CAP management and for delivery
to be kept up and even bolstered, particularly for the second pillar, so
that policy choices can be tailored at a local level.
"Today, many regional authorities have responsibilities as Managing
Authorities for regional rural development programs. Such provisions
have successfully allowed regional authorities to adapt rural
development measures to local needs,
" said
Guillaume Cros
(FR/Greens), Vice-president of the Occitanie region and CoR rapporteur for
CAP reform. The CoR fears that the newly proposed governance risks
jeopardising all these achievements.
The Agriregions Coalition, AREFLH, AREPO and Euromontana, collectively
representing more than 30 regions from 9 Member States, have also raised
their concerns and joined the call for a greater recognition of
the role of European regions in the elaboration, management and
delivery of the future CAP strategic plans
.
According to
Loïg Chesnais-Girard
(FR/PES), President of the Regional Council of Brittany member of the
Agriregions Coalition, “
this is a matter of bringing Europe closer to its citizens. It is
essential that the European regions are fully involved in drawing up
the future CAP Strategic Plans, that their role as regional managing
authorities is recognised in the regulation and that they can continue
to engage in a dialogue with the European Commission when necessary.
Without this provision, Europe risks losing the wealth of management
experience built up over the years in many European regions as well as
the progress made in adapting the CAP, particularly the rural
development measures, to local needs
."
“If the CAP should remain common all over Europe, it should also have
the capacity to really be adapted to local needs and realities,
” explained Juan-Andres Gutierrez, member of the Basque
Government and President of Euromontana. He further said
that “
keeping European regions strongly involved in the design of future CAP
Strategic Plans such as in the national Recovery and Resilience Plans
is essential to better take into consideration mountain territories
."
“The regional dimension will be fundamental if the objectives of the new
CAP and respective National Strategic Plans are to be achieved. Now
more than ever, the global targets being set by the leadership at
European and national level require the local-level knowledge and
expertise that can identify and execute the best strategies to adapt
the objectives to the various local contexts. Without the active
inclusion of the regional level in the future PAC, we risk making
agricultural policy more distant and abstract to those it concerns, and
the European agriculture model could lose the expertise and best
practices needed to truly ensure its adaptability in the face of
current economic and climatic challenges,
” stated Simona Caselli, former Regional minister
for Agriculture, Hunting and Fishing of the Emilia-Romagna Region and
President of the AREFHL.
"Agriculture and the agri-food industry are essential pillars of our
regional economies and they are rooted in our culture and identity.
Future CAP must maintain a direct relationship with the rural territory
through EU Regions, which play a crucial role when it comes to define
and implement agricultural and rural development policies at local
level. CAP objectives may only be reached through the regionalisation
of the largest part of CAP instruments,
” said Ms Eirini Choudetsanaki, Regional Councillor of
Crete and the President of the AREPO.
As the discussions on the role of regions in the future CAP enter the
trilogue phase on 30 April, CoR members call on the co-legislators to
ensure a comprehensive European approach to the governance of regional
interventions in the future CAP. In particular, they ask for the
introduction of a clear role for regional authorities in the management of
rural development interventions,
supported by the European Parliament in its resolution on the Common
Agricultural Policy
.
The
regional and local barometer
published by the
European Committee of the Regions
in October 2020 found that 33% of EU citizens want regions and towns to
have more influence on EU agricultural and rural development policy.
Contact:
Wioletta Wojewodzka
Tel. +32 473 843 986
wioletta.wojewodzka@cor.europa.eu